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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29259930">king of sunflowers</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucasunflower/pseuds/lucasunflower'>lucasunflower</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mother 1 | EarthBound Zero | EarthBound Beginnings, Mother 2: Gyiyg no Gyakushuu | EarthBound, Mother 3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adoption, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Chatting &amp; Messaging, Comfort/Angst, Crushes, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Light Angst, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Not Canon Compliant, Overthinking, Panic Attacks, Past Character Death, Picnics, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Self-Indulgent, autistic characters, mentions of trauma, more tags to be added as more chapters get added, mostly - Freeform, still dunno what to tag it as but oh well</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 12:49:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,156</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29259930</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucasunflower/pseuds/lucasunflower</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>lucas, the boy from nowhere, is on his road to recovery and has made friends with most of the other earthbound cast. he's soon to develop a crush on one of them though; the most unexpected one, too.</p><p>the prince of dalaam. poo.</p><p>[discontinued]</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ana/Ninten (Mother 1), Poo &amp; Lucas, Poo/Lucas, it's not the focus but it's mentioned</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. introduction</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>this is super self indulgent and im not sorry and yes i dont proofcheck my stuff<br/>yes my otp is a rarepair how can you tell /hj</p><p>anyway, /j means joking, /hj means half joking</p><p>on discord, ness is pissness, lucas is sunflower, ninten is Nintendo, paula is just Paula, lloyd is Lloyyerigfd, ana is just Ana, nana is ocean girl<br/>i tried to keep it obvious who they were though</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>he sighed and leaned back, setting his paintbrush down to admire what he was painting. it was a nice, detailed painting of hatsune miku; she was in the middle of what seemed to be dancing, holding a mic in one hand. next to her were japanese lyrics of some vocaloid song that he decided would fit. overall, it meshed together really well and he thought it was one of his better works.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>lucas picked up the painting and nailed it to the wall right above his bed, before starting to clean up his work. he was a bit more messy today with his painting; he had messed up a lot on his art and in turn, had gotten a lot more paint than he usually would on himself. it's okay though, because cleaning it up was never too hard for him. his old, unused t shirt he wore for painting had a lot more blues on it now, though.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>he finished putting the brushes and paints back onto his small makeshift desk before getting up and making his way to the bathroom to wash his practically blue hands. it felt nice to finally clean up after getting himself dirty in any sort of way. lucas was never fond of germs, even when he was much younger and lived with his birth parents. he quickly shook his head to clear those thoughts so he wouldn't think about much.. worse things. stuff that he'd prefer to not start having a panic attack about right now, even though it's happened so many times before.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>splashing his face with water, he shook his head before viewing the mirror.</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>"it's okay lucas, think about happy things. like miku. or teto. yeah."</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>lucas took a deep breath, forced himself to relax, and headed back out of the bathroom. nobody was in the living room and he didn't hear anybody cooking in the kitchen, so he just assumed that they weren't home or they were just in their rooms. so he went back to his room, pulled out his laptop from a drawer in his desk, sat down on his bed, and opened it up, signing in. he didn't really know what to do; he didn't feel like getting into cosplay, he was already exhausted from painting, and he didn't feel like bothering his parents at the moment. so he just decided to do the best course of action.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>bother his friends.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>he opened up discord and waited for it to load. his laptop was a little bit old and he had quite a bit of games on it, so discord took maybe a minute or so for it to load. and when it did, his heart sank a little bit at the lack of pings or dms. he always enjoyed getting dmed by people he cared about. it's okay though, because there was a discord server for all of the earthbound characters. the ones who decided to join, anyway. he didn't talk much there though because he didn't like some people there and overall, he was anxious about talking to a lot of them there too. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>nesspiss: What The Fuck</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>Paula: PLSSS WHAT IS THIS</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>The Scientist Man: I don't know if I should feel offended by this. </b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>ocean girl: DJFKGHDFJKGDFHGJKF</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>he scrolled up a bit to see what they were laughing at. it was a really poorly made edit of ness and lucas, making it seem like they were in love or something. he giggled to himself; he thought the editing itself was funny, not the actual content. it was originally sent by ninten.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>sunflower: why???? why do i get on discord to this</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>nesspiss: get back off of discord lucas</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>sunflower: no smh</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>ocean girl: why don't YOU get off of discord ness /j</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>nesspiss: idk i'm a redditor /j</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>Lloyyerigfd: SIUDFHGUDFIGH</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>ocean girl: DFIGUHDFGJKDFGH</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>sunflower: HAHAHAHA</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>sunflower: u rlly do give off redditor vibes ness /hj</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>nesspiss: why the fuck isn't this a /j</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>sunflower: 😳</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>nesspiss: i hate u /j</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>ocean girl: now now boys lets not get into any fights /j</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>sunflower: nana i WILL fight u /j</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>ocean girl: bet </b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>sunflower: NOO I WAS KIDDINGSJGHFDUIDHG</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>ocean girl: SDJKGSHGD</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>Nintendo: Get a room you two jfc</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>Paula: Yeah I agree.</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>sunflower: </b>
  <b>
    <em>@Nintendo</em>
  </b>
  <b> listen last time we were all inperson together with eachother u</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>sunflower: you were literally making out with ana /srs</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>Nintendo: Nvm i'm going back offline cya</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>ocean girl: I-</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>nesspiss: you really did go back offline ninten</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>Ana: why did i see my name mentioned</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>Ana: nvm i'm going offline too</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>Paula: </b>
  <b>
    <em>@sunflower @ocean girl </em>
  </b>
  <b>You two are like.. literal forces of nature it's hilarious</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>sunflower: i don't even try to be funny i just have trauma</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>ocean girl: yeah same</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>Paula: Oh</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>sunflower: this isnt therapy so i'm not gonna talk about it</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>ocean girl: godd im so bored</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>sunflower: i mean</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>sunflower: 😳</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>ocean girl: 😳</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>nesspiss: get a room</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>sunflower: </b>
  <b>
    <em>@ocean girl</em>
  </b>
  <b> wanna hang out or smthn? i just painted something new </b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>ocean girl: oohh yeah!!! sounds good</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>ocean girl: omw</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>The Scientist Man: Are you two secretly dating or something? Because it feels like it.</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>sunflower: i'm gay</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>The Scientist Man: Oh. Nevermind then.</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>nesspiss: im homophobic</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>sunflower: /j?</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>nesspiss: idk figure it out yourself</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>sunflower: okay i'm going now bye</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>lucas was quick to set himself as offline on discord and closed it, shutting his laptop too and putting it back in his desk. he knew nana didn't live too far from him so she would be here any second now. he got up from his bed and stretched before heading outside and waiting for nana. it was nice out for once; he was used to it being stormy and pouring rain outside. he took in a deep breath of fresh air, relaxing. it's always nice to be outside.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"hey lucas!"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>he turned to see his friend, well, more like best friend nana come running towards him. she was wearing a much shorter skirt than she usually was. it made sense though; she was wearing skull patterned tights underneath, layered with bright pink socks and one of her taller pairs of demonias. it was the slay 301's, which looked similar to the stacks but had kandi on it. she was wearing a black band t shirt and a pink jacket. her shoes shone nicely in the light.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>lucas waved back, smiling. he was just wearing a simple black t shirt and shorts today since he really hadn't planned on going out; he knew that nana preferred to stay dressed up inside, too. lucas was just usually too exhausted and not motivated enough to do that all the time, but nana always had a lot of energy to her, didn't she?</span>
  <span></span><br/>
<br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"i thought you'd be wearing your demonias today, lucas! but it's fine if you didn't because at least one of us looks good!"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>she teased, giggling to herself. lucas giggled as well. he was pretty used to nana's sense of humor since they both grew up together and he even shared some of the same humor as her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>nana turned around to reveal that she had a backpack on, too.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"i'm staying the night!"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"uh.. okay!"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>lucas moved his hands a little, stimming. his parents usually didn't care about his friends staying over since they trusted him, and it's been a while since anyone has stayed over, least of all nana. she didn't have any parents so she could come over anytime.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>he reached out and took her hand, guiding her inside and into his room. nana took a look around to see if much had changed; to her surprise, there was quite a bit of stuff she didn't recognize.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"i see you decorated you're room a lot more! oooh, is that an authentic miku figurine?!"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>she ran up to his figure collection. they were all neatly together on shelves; he had a </span>
  <em>
    <span>lot </span>
  </em>
  <span>of vocaloid figures, since vocaloid was his special interest.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"yeah, it is! it was quite a bit to get though and i had to save up for her."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"that's really really really cool luke!!"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>nana spun around, somehow not tripping on her demonias, and sat down on his bed. she's really good at moving around in demonias, lucas knew that. he's just still amazed at the fact. he took a seat next to her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"so, when are you finally gonna buy miku?"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>he looked away, thinking to himself. yes, he did technically have the money to get her, but there was a lot of different choices! he could get an older miku, to give her that nostalgic feel, or buy a newer version, so he could make her more realistic. and there's also all of her voicebanks too that he had to consider. he could get her normal voicebank, her dark voicebank, her power voicebank, or any of the other ones. he still didn't know which to get.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"i don't know.. she has a lot of different voicebanks and i don't wanna just choose one."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"can't you get all of them?"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"i mean.. that would be a lot. a single voicebank on it's own costs like.. a shitton of money."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"i can help you get them, lucas!"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>he let out an audible gasp before slapping his hands over his mouth in shock.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"really?"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"of course! i'd do anything for my bff. plus, i have a lot of money i don't use anyway."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>lucas grinned, tears welling up in his eyes out of pure happiness. he never expected her to do anything like that, especially since hatsune miku's voicebanks cost a lot.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"thank you so much nana!"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>nana pulled lucas into a tight hug.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"mhm!"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>he hugged her back even tighter, happy to be hugged and happy that he was getting something he wanted for a long time now. they embraced each other for a couple of minutes before nana let go, with lucas reluctantly following suit.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"hey, do you wanna watch a movie or something?"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"huh? oh, uh, yeah! i don't have many movies to pick from though.. i only really have anime movies."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"that's fine luke! i need to watch more anime anyway."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>he looked over at her, a little worried.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"even if you see spoilers?"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"uh huh! i'd find out about it sooner or later anyway."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>lucas got up and moved over to where his tv was, looking through his selection of movies. there was one that stuck out to him though; my hero academia heroes rising. it's been a while since he last saw it, and he's always wanted to watch it with someone, so he took it out of the case and put it into the disc slot on the tv box so it would play. he got up and sat next to nana</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"this is one of my favorites and i really hope you like it..!"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"i think i will! you have really good taste in movies."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>nana smiled at lucas and he returned it back before focusing his attention on the movie.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. picnic</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i finally got the motivation to write chapter 2 this is an awesome moment</p><p>and YES these are my headcanons i get to choose what i want</p><p>anyway enjoy this mess, except proofread by a friend this time</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>lucas sat down on the grass, crossing his legs. he was sitting right next to ness; there were some others there, too, like the kids from mother 1 and the rest of ness's team. they were all having a picnic today in some park. it was sunny outside and was supposed to stay that way the entire time they were there, so they were having fun. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>lucas was wearing his 'normal' outfit. it was his red and yellow striped sweater, shorts, and shoes. everyone else was also wearing their outfits they wore entirely ingame, maybe with some minor changes here or there, but nothing too drastic. it felt kind of weird to not be wearing his demonias out for once, but it's not like they knew he even wore them anyway. he felt embarrassed telling anyone outside of the people from 'his' game; he wasn't sure of their opinions on more alternative clothing and as such he never mentioned it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>looking around, he spotted a few groups already forming. jeff, lloyd, and poo were all sitting together; paula wasn't here yet, and ninten and ana were just arriving, hand in hand. he cringed a little at the sight of that. and of course, he was sitting right next to ness, who was preparing the blanket and such.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>oh, right. he should ask to help, shouldn't he? he was expected to be nice and caring, so..</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"hey, ness, do you need help setting things up?" lucas asked, fidgeting with his hands. he always got a little anxious talking to people in person instead of online.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"nope! i'm good, thanks for asking luke!" ness responded enthusiastically, finally flattening out the blanket.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"you don't have to stay here with me, y'know. i'm fine with staying here alone!"</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>he sounded a little too enthusiastic, a little too happy, lucas thought to himself. he didn't know ness's struggles well enough to know if he did actually mean what he just said, but he had to make sure. he never wanted one of his friends to be upset, or lonely, or struggling, or anything of that sort.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"i know that, ness. i don't want to leave you alone, though." he gently smiled at the black haired boy, relaxing a little to try and show ness that he was being serious about that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>it seemed to work, because ness sat back down and laughed, a big grin on his face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"you're always so nice, lucas! thank you!"</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>the blonde haired boy's cheeks tainted a light pink as he smiled at the other. he liked seeing ness smile or laugh, or just, in general be happy. he felt like.. that maybe, ness had some unresolved issues buried deep down inside of him. but he wasn't sure, and there was no proof of this, but he just felt like he was right. he hasn't been through whatever ness was been through, so he had no idea. but he tried.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"of course..! i try to be."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>ness laughed again.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"i think everything should be set up. we just gotta wait for paula."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>ness got up, wiping down his shorts, and turned towards the other two groups.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"HEY, POO, JEFF, LLOYD, NINTEN, ANA! WE'RE READY!" he shouted, hands around his mouth to try and echo his voice. lucas covered his ears at the noise; it was much too loud for him, and he was never fond of loud noises.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>the five just mentioned made their way over to the picnic blanket and took seats on it, or around it, depending on where they sat and how you want to view them. everyone had brought their own food, which they set in the middle. there was an array of containers, from cheap plastic to what seemed to be something made of gold, or similar, most likely brought by poo, considering he was royalty. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>as the others began to chat amongst each other, mainly ness, ninten, ana, jeff, and lloyd, he decided to take a look at what poo brought. it seemed to be both hand made and hand painted; it looked like, maybe, it was painted with something that was a mixture of real metal and paint, because it seemed to be a little heavier and thinner at points than normal paint would be. but then again, it could just be a poor paint job using metallic paints that looked like real metal. it was hard for him to tell, considering that if it was the former, he's never personally worked with anything like paint made of metal. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>the actual patterns painted and engraved into it were interesting, too. they seemed to be something similar to kanji, yet he knew they weren't, considering that he spoke the language. it seemed possible that dalaam had their own language that he's never heard of before, and that he was seeing it, but he wasn't about to ask poo. that would be embarrassing. from what he could make out of it though, it was mostly the odd letters and simple shapes and lines. they were simple patterns, yet when put together it seemed very complicated. lucas knew that you just had to carefully pick it apart by each shape.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>he would never say he was a professional or anything close to being a master at painting, but he was self taught and he thought he was pretty good at it. it's been a long time since he's painted on something a little more three dimensional though. overall, he thought it was a pretty piece and meshed together well. the shapes and colors fit, even if he thought that the paint job was a little sloppy. but he also didn't know who made it, so he can't really judge that, now can he? it could've been a master at painting who had made it intentionally like that, or somebody who's never picked up a brush before and accidentally made it like that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>he was in the middle of forming another thought before he heard something; it sounded like his name? he looked up.</span>
</p><p> </p><ol>
<li><span> oh shit. everyone was staring at him.</span></li>
</ol><p> </p><p>
  <span>"are you alright lucas? you've been uh.. staring at what poo brought for like, the past ten minutes." </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>that was ninten's voice. god, he was so embarrassed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"uh huh! i'm fine..! i-i was just.. admiring it i guess.."</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>lucas avoided their gazes and looked down at the grass, plucking out the occasional strand. god, that was horrible. he heard them go back to talking normally. he hadn't meant to start spacing out in front of everyone, and then worry them because </span>
  <em>
    <span>he</span>
  </em>
  <span> was deep in thought about some boy's container that he brought that he may or may not really like, even if it was painted sloppily, and, and-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>he jumped at the feeling of something touch his shoulder and he jerked his head towards whatever it was. poo was now sitting next to him, gently resting his hand on his shoulder. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"are you okay? you seemed to be panicking."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>oh.. poo was right, he had started to panic a little. he was hyperventilating, and shaking, and his thoughts were racing and overall he was just.. scared? he didn't know why. there's always the possibility that something triggered his ptsd, but he never knew. he would think about that later, when he wasn't in the middle of a possibly panic attack. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"oh.. not really, i guess i did start panicking a little, haha." his tone came out as shaky and overall sounded forced. he cringed a little at it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"if you want, we can go take a breather. so you can calm down, y'know." poo also seemed a little nervous, as much as he tried to hide it, but lucas, already on edge and overall good at reading other people's emotions most of the time, could tell. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"i.. that.. sounds good actually. thank you." he let his voice go quiet and drop the forced tone, letting a slight smile form on his face. poo nodded, getting up and starting to walk away.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>ness looked at them weird before nodding, already understanding. lucas got up as well and began to follow poo, taking deep breaths so that he wouldn't shake as much as he was. it helped a little. poo sat down against a tree a little ways away from the group, making a light patting motion next to him to let lucas know he could sit there, which he did. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>they were sitting awfully close, he thought. their shoulders were almost touching and, if he wanted, he could reach over and hold poo's hand. he didn't though, because that was awkward, embarrassing, and he also didn't know poo's sexuality. he felt like he wasn't straight, though, but he wasn't gonna try anyway.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>..speaking of poo and sexualities, poo himself was really pretty. he wasn't really one to dislike somebody's appearance, as he thought that a lot of people were pretty, but.. he never really considered somebody to be more than pretty appearance wise. the only person he would consider to be that at this very moment would be nana, but he wasn't interested in her romantically.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>but.. he thought poo was about as pretty, or, well, </span>
  <em>
    <span>beautiful</span>
  </em>
  <span> as nana was. maybe even more. he never really spent any time with poo in person because of his prince duties, but now he was sitting right next to him and could basically admire him for as long as he wanted, assuming he didn't get caught. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>sure, he may think ness, jeff, or even lloyd was pretty, but not as much as poo. he just couldn't describe poo's beauty in words; he felt like he was staring at a painting that came to life, if that made sense. which, to lucas, it did. he was a painter and often admired some very popular artists before, and he felt like poo was something that they painted that had come to life. he just looked perfect was an easier way to put it, instead of comparing a living being to art.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>but art was a reflection of living beings as well, so maybe the comparison wasn't as offensive as he thought? then again, comparing anything inanimate to the animate was always seen as an offensive, but he didn't know. he tried to be as inoffensive as possible, thoughts or not. it was part of him trying to work on himself as a person.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>poo himself was just staring up at the sky, relaxing. lucas had no idea what he was thinking about and, even if he could read minds, he still wouldn't pry into his. there's two main reasons. number one being poo is probably a very strong psi user and would know immediately, and also because it was an invasion of privacy. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>he wondered how well poo knew psi. lucas knew that he, as in himself, was a very good psi user, but he didn't know how well poo was. he has battled ness and paula a couple of times for fun, and could gauge their general strength with psi, but he hasn't tried sparring ninten, ana, or poo. he would love to, though, but he didn't like ninten or ana, and he never got to hang out with poo too often.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>he looked back over at the other kids. they were just overall eating and having fun. he would join them, but he much preferred the silence over here by poo. too much noise overwhelmed him. they seemed to be done eating anyway, and lucas had planned to leave when they were done eating. </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"do you want to go back over there?"</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>lucas had heard poo that time, despite being lost in thought. he smiled at poo.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"no thanks..! it's a lot more quiet over here. i like the quiet."</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>poo nodded in agreement, resting his head in his hands.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"i like the quiet, too. too much noise can be very overwhelming. i've noticed that, whenever we all hang out, you usually get overwhelmed by the noise, under the assumption that there is a lot at the time. i thought i should help you out for once, instead of you struggling as you sit alone. i've always preferred to calm down with someone else than by myself."</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>lucas, taken back by how much poo just spoke, silently nodded his head in agreement. he really wasn't expecting poo to talk that much, or even to be similar to lucas is.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>..maybe he was autistic like he is. that seemed more likely.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>actually, a lot of things started clicking together in his head. a lot of the behaviors he's noticed in poo were also behaviors that he himself has, as well as a lot of other autistic people. being overwhelmed by noise, fidgeting, better known as stimming, rambling a bunch, not very good emotion control, whether it be too much or too little, getting lost in thought, etc. it made sense to him now.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"hey, uh.. weird invasive question check. are you by any chance uh.. autistic, poo?" lucas asked nervously, playing with grass he's ripped out over the past half hour or so.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"yes, why? does that really matter?" poo's tone turned a little on the more aggressive side. lucas assumed that he thought that lucas was against autistic people, or thought they were dumb, or some other prejudice. he understood.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"oh..! i was just wondering because, well.. not to seem mean or anything, but it just.. seemed like you were."</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>and with that, poo looked ready to get up and leave. he seemed mad.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"i-i don't mean it like that..! i-i mean, i'm a-autistic too, so.."</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>lucas was shaking again. the other boy relaxed back against the tree, now curious. it didn't seem like he's met someone so similar either, it seemed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"really?" poo tilted his head to the side a little. lucas nodded, relaxing a little as well, smiling.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"it's really cool to know that we're.. uh.. s-similar i guess..! haha.. i'm not good with words." he blushed a little, stumbling over his words out of pure anxiety. </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>poo smiled, something lucas never really got to see. it was such a pretty smile too; he should smile more.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>..that was a gay thought.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"of course." his tone seemed happier, or at least, lucas thought it was. maybe it was unintentional, but he didn't know. he liked it, thought.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>he liked it a lot when poo was happy, actually. he just.. liked poo a lot in general. he wanted to know him better, to be better friends with him, maybe even more. maybe he is developing a crush, maybe he already </span>
  <em>
    <span>has</span>
  </em>
  <span> a crush on the prince. maybe he's spent a couple of nights thinking what it would be like to be a prince alongside poo, ruling over dalaam. maybe he's even drawn it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"oh, uh.. what time is it?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>poo pulled out his phone to check. it seemed to be brand new and one of the latest models.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"4:36 pm, why?"</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>lucas got up.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"i-i uh.. gotta be home before 4:40..! so i should.. probably hurry! see you later poo!" he started to leave before he heard poo call to him.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"wait! i have something i wanna give to you."</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>poo rushed back to where everyone was sitting; lucas heard a clang noise. and then poo came back. he didn't seem to be out of breath in the slighest.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"here."</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>he handed it to lucas. it was the container that he brought his food items in. the inside seemed barely scratched at all and perfectly clean and polished. it was pretty.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"i saw you looking at it earlier and thought you liked it, so you can have it. i have plenty more of these at home."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>lucas took it from him, hugging it against his chest, afraid that he'd drop it. it was a lot heavier than he expected, but it couldn't have been more than ten pounds. he felt honoured to have something like this. </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"thank you so much..! i should get going now.. see you later..!"</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"bye, lucas. i'll see you later too!"</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>after saying his goodbye, lucas turned away and started to leave. he wasn't supposed to be home when he said he was, he just wanted an excuse to leave. also, he was curious as to what poo meant by 'see you later too'. he never said see you later.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>maybe he was planning something? he shook a little in excitement, grinning as he walked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>he hoped it would be soon.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. wish to forget</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hi im finally back with a new chapter!! mental illness has hit me hard</p><p>anyway uh.. i cant explain this one like at all</p><p>next chapter is supposed to be even worse somehow-</p><p>btw yes, lucas's ptsd panic attack is based off of personal experiences </p><p>warnings for mentions of death/implied suicide</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>lucas was running his fingers through the lines of the pot poo had given him a couple of days earlier. he's thought a lot about what happened since and was just trying to pass the time. plus, he liked to actually have some time to think to himself instead of letting himself dwell on things.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>he hadn't been in contact with the prince since that day, which was confusing. he did say he would come over or something along those lines, right? or maybe lucas was just overthinking it and getting hyped up about nothing, which was likely the case. he did that a lot and wouldn't be surprised if he was doing it again, even though he knew it would hurt like the countless times before this has happened.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>other than that, he's kept the container poo gave him in excellent shape; he worried about it too much and would constantly check that there were no scratches, no dust, nothing bad happening to it. he's also written down some of the letters he was able to pick out from it and drew them. he had no idea what they meant, or what language they were from, or if they were even letters and just shapes. he still loved it though and the shapes, or letters, or whatever it may be on it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>when he sees poo next, he should ask. maybe. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>..the thing is, he was unsure. he was afraid of asking. what if, by asking, he offends poo? what if it's something that lucas wasn't supposed to know? he was, to be honest, terrified of offending or hurting anybody. especially people he cared about.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>people like..</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>..</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>he tried not to think about his orange hair, his happy smile, how he was adventurous, how much he </span>
  <em>
    <span>missed</span>
  </em>
  <span> him so so much-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>who was he thinking of?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>it didn't matter who; they were probably no-one.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>..that didn't help much with the fact he was shaking badly, and the fact that it was felt like he was being attacked. it didn't help with this overwhelming fear, with the feeling that everything was about to end. it didn't help at all. it never did, it never helped yet he still tried it each time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>he didn't know if he was purposely making himself panic or not, but either way, he was still panicking.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>he didn't know what to do, he didn't know what to do, he was panicking, he didn't know how to make himself calm down. he wanted to be calm, he didn't want to think of his dead brother, who of which literally killed himself using lucas, he didn't want to think about any of it, not even the permanent scar left on his chest, a reminder of someone he missed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>he didn't wanna think at all, yet here he was. agonizing over things that happened years ago. he wished he could just forget that it happened, or something else like that. he didn't ask to have these issues with his life, all of those medicines he had to take, the flashbacks, none of it. he didn't want any of it. he wanted to be a normal kid like his friends, and not have that constant worry, paranoia, </span>
  <em>
    <span>whatever </span>
  </em>
  <span>it was. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>he didn't want this.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>he didn't want this, he didn't want this, he didn't want this, he didn't want this he didn't want this he didn't want this he didn't want this-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>..he hadn't registered that he was crying.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>he was.. crying. he stared down at his hands resting in his lap, looking at the teardrops that had fallen.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>he was crying.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>was that.. a good thing? a bad thing? he's always been told that crying was a sign of weakness, especially when he was young, but now..</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>his mom, actually, no, both of his parents have told him multiple times that crying was okay. that it was good to vent to them, and let his feelings out instead of bottling it up inside of him. he would often spend nights being held, being comforted, as he sobbed and thought about all the things in his life that went wrong. they helped.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>..maybe he should go to one of them. he hated being alone like this.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>he stood up, shaking harder than he was before, and reached for a certain plushie on his bed, hugging her against his chest. it was one of his miku plushies; he cared about the idol a lot and doing this helped to calm him down a bit. sure, it was a little childish, but he didn't care, especially when he was upset. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>he found it was easier to do 'childish' things when he was upset to make himself better. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>he wanted his childhood back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>lucas gently opened the door, quietly leaving his room. he didn't know where either of them were, except for his dad. he had mentioned earlier that he was gonna leave to get groceries, so it was only mom who was home.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>he liked his mom a lot. she was nice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>speaking of her, she should most likely be in her room, or the living room. that's where he usually found her. he'd check the living room first.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>and lucas was right; his mom was in there, slouched on the couch and watching youtube on the tv. she was watching markiplier play five nights at freddys, a good game series and a good youtuber, but lucas wasn't too interested in either. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"mom..?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>she sat up, pulling her hood down and looking at him. and then she realized what had happened and her expression quickly changed. she knew what happened and was immediately worried.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"come here, bud."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>her voice was soft and gentle, much different and much more comforting than her usually loud, rough voice. he, albeit shakily, made his way over to where she was sitting on the couch next to her. kumatora pulled lucas into a big hug, squishing miku in between the two. he opted to keep hugging the plush and buried his face against her shoulder.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"did you have an attack again? actually don't answer that nevermind i already know. it'll be okay though, i'm here. whatever happened has already happened, focus on now."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>he gently whimpered. it was hard to focus on now, especially when his brain was trying to make him think of the past. but she knew. she knew what to do; she's always done something similar each time to get lucas back in the present instead of the past. she rested a hand on his head and.. started doing something similar to petting. but it wasn't, it was like a mixture of petting and just ruffling his hair.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>he was relaxing in her arms, though, which she knew was a good sign. he liked pets, and head pats, and the like. it was a little weird, but also a little endearing, too. he was her son, after all.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"hey, luke. how was choir last week, y'know, on friday? at school. what new songs are you guys learning?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>he sat up a little more, trying to focus on then. choir last week? he was..</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>they were..</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>the choir was learning a new song in preparation of their concert in a couple of weeks. he couldn't recall the name at the moment, but it was a happier song. was it? no, it was, sort of. it was a song with a deeper meaning, basically saying that everything in this world has a meaning, or something.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>..wasn't it called for good? he thought so.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"we're.. learning a new song, called for good. it's.. about how everything in life is important.. and has meaning.. and the song's from a musical? it's.. really fun."</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"you're a tenor, aren't you? so you get the cool high pitched parts. that's dope. when's the concert?"</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"i think in a month? i don't remember the exact date."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>she smiled to herself, relieved that he's calming down.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"you know we're both coming, right?"</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"of course..! you and dad haven't ever missed one of our concerts."</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>he softly giggled, moving a little so he could see her face to face. not that he'd look her in the eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"i don't know why you'd ever miss it.."</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>she thought to herself. both genuinely, and also jokingly, letting out a small hmmm. </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"well, maybe i got into a fight with someone at uh.. hot topic or somethin' and uh.. i had to go to.. the hospital. because i got hurt. yeah! what if that happened, huh?"</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>kumatora made it sound like a challenge; like she wanted lucas to come up with the most outrageous answer he could think of. </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>and he knew this, he knew her well enough to know what she was doing.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"well.. i'd get the entire concert to come to you, in the hospital. and then we'd perform for you! so you don't miss out at all."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>they both laughed: lucas's higher pitched, quieter one, and kumatora's louder laugh.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"ya feel better now?"</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>he nodded, maybe a little too hard and winced as a sharp pain hit his neck.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"ow..! ow, i turned my head too hard.. oops."</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>she giggled.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"you'll be fine, happens to me too."</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>he smiled, relaxed and happy now. he was so grateful that he has a kind, loving family now. </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <span>"yo, do you wanna watch markiplier play fnaf with me?"</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>"oh, uh.. yeah sure! i've never seen it before.."</span>
</p>
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